As Close to Perfect as it Gets
by TeaEnthusiast
Summary: percabeth fluff! ahh! so basically, after the heros of olympus series. percy and annabeth are 17. the gods offer them a year without any quests or favors, so they go to a regular school in the heart of new york city.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

Annabeth was really excited to go to school. Unlike most kids, Annabeth thought school was amazing. Okay, so she hadn't actually _experienced_ it yet.. so what? She had heard a lot about high school. The good, the bad, and, well, the ugly. But Annabeth wasn't your normal teenage girl. She had saved the world about a dozen times, was half-god, and went to a special summer camp every year that sent her on life threatening missions to greater the universe as a whole. So, you can tell why Annabeth was relatively excited to go to her first day of her junior year of high school.

She couldn't hide the fact that she was also looking forward to spending eight hours a day with her best friend, (ok, _boyfriend_) Percy Jackson. They even got Paul to put them in all the same classes. You see, Annabeth and Percy kind of started dating a year ago. It was after they had saved the world together, and they came to terms with the feelings they had had for a _long_ time. Since they had been through so much together, it was hard for Annabeth to not be with Percy all the time. Its almost like, she didn't feel safe, without Percy being there. Every minute without him there was an agony she hoped Percy wouldn't fully realize for a while, because it would probably creep him out.

Then, Percy had gone missing for a period of time Annabeth started calling 'The Dark Days,' where she barely slept, ate, or even moved if she had too. She was diagnosed with such a serious depression, she stayed in the hospital for many weeks at a time.

But then, Percy and Annabeth were reunited, and they saved the world _again_. But the gods slowly realized how much of an emotional strain they were putting them through, and decided to give them a full year without bothering them with quests and saving the world. A year to a god is like a couple of hours to us. It passes by in a blink of an eye. But for Percy and Annabeth, they promised it would be longer. That they would make it the longest year they possibly could. So they would, starting today.

"Annabeth! Annabeth...Percy's waiting downstairs."

"Percy?"

Annabeth hurriedly put on her shoes and sprinted down the stairs as fast as she could. She jumped into Percy's arms.

"It seemed like forever."

Annabeth said, her voice muffled into his chest. Annabeth's dad looked away sheepishly and muttered,

"It was only a couple of weeks."

Annabeth shot her dad a glance that said, 'Dad, back off. Me and Percy combined have enough force to crush an elephant to pieces.'

Annabeth's dad held up his hands in defeat and left the room, leaving just in time for Percy to slip a quick kiss on Annabeth's lips. Annabeth smiled up brightly to Percy,

"Well, someone's certainly excited for their first day of school.."

"Percy? Do you realize what this means? We can join all the clubs, you can swim on the swim team-"

"You can play on the math team..." Percy said smiling, as Annabeth's eyes widened.

"They have one of those?"

Percy just laughed and muttered into her ear something only she could hear.

"I love you."

Annabeth smiled brightly as Percy wrapped his arm around her waist.

"Come on.. We should get to school. Don't wanna be late on the first day!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Percy was pretty much the coolest kid in the school by default. Some kids were just _meant _to be cool. And Percy was one of those kids. But...he wasn't very _aware _of this fact. When they walked up the steps to the front of the school, he stopped and took a deep breath. Annabeth smiled up at him and squeezed his hand even tighter than before.

"Don't be nervous Seaweed Brain. We've defeated _Kronos_ before... I'm pretty sure we can handle high school."

"Its just that...I've gotten kicked out of every single school I've ever gone too. _Ever_. I don't want to get kicked out of another one. We've got to go to the same school, Annabeth. We've only got _a year._"

"Come on, Percy. Don't say it like that. We've got an entire year! We'll be _more _than fine."

And Annabeth kissed him on the cheek quickly.

"Besides, its me you've got to worry about. I'm joining the math team for goodness sakes.."

Percy's face hardened, and said through gritted teeth.

"If one, single person, ever, _ever, _messes with you...I'll beat them to shreds."

Annabeth just smiled widely.

"Not if I beat them first!"

Percy chuckled and opened the door wide.

"After you."

* * *

As soon as Annabeth and Percy walked into the school, everyone stopped and stared. Percy was still gripping Annabeth's hand tightly, and as they made their way down the hallway, he refused to let go. Annabeth wasn't that surprised that everyone was starring. I mean, Percy was _hot._ But there was this power radiating off of him, always reminding him, and everyone else, that its there. It was like, automatically, Percy was the cool kid. But Percy didn't seem to notice it, or if he did, he was _really good_ at hiding it.

Percy looked down at his sheet.

"So it looks like, our lockers are right...here."

He said, opening a top locker and a bottom locker labeled 465 and 466.

"Well? Which one is which?"

Percy looked down on his sheet.

"I've got the bottom one."

"Oh, well, we can switch if you want to.."

"Oh, you know. Its ok. You can have the top one. It looks bigger, and since you'll be doing most of our homework I'll just go on and give you the extra space. Its totally fine."

"Yes! And I'm still going to force you to do your homework. You know that..right?"

Percy just rolled his eyes as a big guy with a letterman jacket walked up to him.

"Hey, man. I'm Harrison. I heard that you're new."

Percy nodded.

"Sure am."

"Well, you should eat lunch with us. We've _got _to talk to you about playing some sports here. Our teams _suck_."

"Then, how'd you get a Letterman's Jacket?"

"Oh, I'm on the math team. Ya, we're all like, whiz kids. Don't worry though.. math's pretty cool here. I'd tell you to do it, but you don't look like the person that'd do math."

Percy chuckled.

"I'm not sure if I should find that offensive, or just feel relieved that you didn't attempt to recruit me."

Brad patted Percy on the back, and yelled over his shoulder,

"See ya at lunch!"

Percy turned to Annabeth with a huge grin on his face. As she said,

"See? That wasn't so bad, was it?"

"This is fun! What class do we have first?"

"World History... its actually, right...there!"

And Annabeth pointed to the closest door on the right side of the hallway. The bell rang, and Percy looked up confusedly to Annabeth.

"Was that the bell that signaled a minute? Or ten? What was that bell?"

Suddenly everyone left the hallway, and went to their rightful classes. Percy grabbed Annabeth's hand again as he pulled her into their first class.

Annabeth thought..

_This is gonna be a long year._

And then smiled to herself, glad about that simple fact


	3. Chapter 3

Percy and Annabeth were taking their daily walk through Central Park, holding hands and sipping on coffee. They had been living with Percy's mom for three weeks, ever since surviving Tartarus. The war had been fought, and won, and they had earned their respectful ranks among the gods, although they had turned down the option of immortality once again. All they asked for was peace. (But they also recieved a butt-load of money from all the deities for practically saving Olympus, again.)

They were different, Percy thought. He wasn't going to pretend him and Annabeth would be the same after the hell they went through, and then coming back and fighting a freaking war. It wasn't a _bad _different, but a different nonetheless. They weren't 'Percy' and 'Annabeth' anymore. The two whole, sword-fighting, monster-killing, demigods they had been before the war, and before Tartarus. They were 'Percy and Annabeth.' Two halves, not quite right if the other wasn't there. As if their life source depended on the other.

Percy looked at Annabeth lovingly, as she was talking, once again, about how differently she would've designed the Empire State Building. It never got old, Annabeth's old rants. At least those didn't change.

He noticed the other teens in the park: either cutting class or waiting for their next lecture at NYU.

"Have you ever thought how differently it all could've turned out?"

Percy blurted, and then cursed silently for accidentally interrupting Annabeth. But she smiled up at Percy, and answered.

"You mean, like, if we weren't demigods?"

Percy nodded, and signaled for her to 'go on.'

Annabeth exhaled, and continued.

"Well, honestly, I think I probably would've become a doctor, or a teacher. If I wasn't a demigod I really don't think I would've had the guts to pursue an architecture career."

"No, no. Not like that. But, have you ever, _wished_, you weren't a demigod?"

Annabeth laughed.

"No offense, Percy. But pretty much, the whole time we were in,"

Annabeth paused, because they hadn't said _Tartarus_ since they were there, the word had sprung up too many unwanted memories. She continued.

"Ever since we were in, _there_, I was wishing I wasn't a demigod. But truthfully..."

She hesitated.

"Truthfully, I don't think I would like just 'living.' I wouldn't think that I had a purpose. Yeah, being a demigod is _hard._ I mean, sometimes, _most_ times, it sucks. But its worth it. It was all, definitely, worth it."

Percy kissed her softly, and repeated the words he had told her constantly.

"I love you."

Annabeth touched his face gently, and, with a happy face, replied,

"And I, you."

And pecked him on the lips.


End file.
